


Mother's Day

by sarah_x



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, background scriddler, background selina/harvey/bruce, the rogues are mean gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 06:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18330719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarah_x/pseuds/sarah_x
Summary: Some of the Rogues gather at Selina's house for Mother's Day and Harley is worried she's a bad mom.





	Mother's Day

Harley led Pam through the poorly lit corridors of Selina’s apartment building. Her new safe house was a woeful downgrade from her typical Bruce-Wayne-funded penthouses or the homes of rich marks she’d broken into. Pam half expected to see a rat scuttle past her. 

 

“Honestly, Harl, I don’t understand why you do this to yourself every year,” Pam bemoaned. Mother’s Day in itself was torture enough, spending it with the other Rogues was a whole new circle of hell. “When we could be seeing-”

 

“Nope, nah,  _ nada _ !” Harley shook her head, causing her pigtails to bounce around wildly. “I don’t want to talk about you-know-who today. As far as she knows, Lucy’s with her mommy.” 

 

Pam sighed as Harley’s grip on her hand tightened. Harley scarcely saw Lucy anymore. She used to make every birthday but, with the Joker’s schemes becoming ever more erratic, it had been over a year since she’d last seen her daughter. 

 

Pam couldn’t imagine it. Had her own children, her own rosebuds, not withered away, she would have always been there for them. Pam had ‘met’ Lucy only once, had caught a glimpse of her through the car window as the little girl had been saying goodbye to ‘Auntie Harley’. She had expected to hate the child - this ugly reminder of Harley’s horrid relationship with the clown - but what she’d seen was a carbon copy of Harley, full of childish energy and a colourful vocabulary, fiery red hair the only dark mark of the Joker. Sometimes when she pictured Lucy, Pam liked to pretend Lucy was her child instead of the Joker’s.

 

Harley’s fingers slipped out of hers as they reached the door to Selina’s apartment. She was juggling a hamper full of wine and party food: cheez-its, carrot sticks, doritos, brownies. She was already smiling at the notion of Selina’s disgust as Harley would undoubtedly knock her fancy cheese board onto the floor to make room for the processed crap they’d acquired from the terrified 7/11 clerk. 

 

Faint voices drifted from behind the door but Pam could already hear the Riddler’s whiny voice, loudest of all, arguing with someone from within. “Ah-ah-ah! I know what I’m doing, dear, I’ll have you know I was resident mixologist in college!” 

 

Pam groaned. 

 

Harley shot her a wide grin and squealed, “Oooh I’m so excited! I haven’t seen the boys in so long!” 

 

Pam wanted to mention that was because Harley had been missing for half a year. It had taken hundreds of phone calls, of pleading letters and of overt manipulation to get Harley to leave him for what Pam hoped was for good, but she knew better than that. She was still angry it had come to that, it had made her the hysterical best friend hounding the other rogues for clues to Harley’s whereabouts. But she had been so thankful just to have Harley back in her arms, she didn’t mention it then and wouldn’t bring it up until she was sure Harley wasn’t going to run straight back to the Joker. 

 

Harley knocked on the door. Selina appeared with the tip-tap of heels against a wooden floor. She was as beautiful and as elegant as ever, wearing an off-the-shoulder black dress and a gold, diamond-encrusted cat necklace. 

 

Selina leaned one arm against the doorframe. Her painted red lips curved into an easy smile, “Glad you guys could make it. Took you long enough.”

 

“Coming through!” Harley shrieked, wiggling under Selina’s arm and moving past her into the apartment. 

 

Selina looked between Pam and Harley’s vacating figure then rolled her eyes, breaking into a laugh. Pam smiled as Selina beckoned her inside. 

 

“It’s good to see you both. Seriously.” 

 

Selina’s words warmed Pam’s heart but she buried the feeling, keeping her face neutral. Selina had helped with the search for Harley, yes, but she’d also given in to the distractions of a certain Bruce Wayne which would be just short of unforgivable on any normal day, but especially when Harley needed them. 

 

“I can’t say I’m exactly thrilled to be here, Selina,” Pam said, folding her arms as she brushed past Selina. She followed the sound of Harley’s shrill cries, as Harley undoubtedly flung herself at her fellow rogues. “I thought it would be good for Harley.” 

 

“Nice to see you, too,” Selina said, shaking her head. “So, she turned up in the end?” 

 

“Obviously.” 

 

They turned the corner into the living room but Selina stalled them just outside the door. “Was it bad?” 

 

Pam clenched her teeth, thoughts of Harley half-beaten to death surfacing in her mind.  _ “It was Batman!”  _ Harley had insisted, but she’d refused to look at Pam as she’d cleaned the smaller girl’s wounds.  _ “Our heist, it went all wrong. Puddin’s gunna be so mad at me…”  _

 

Pam shot her a venomous glare, “What do you think?” 

 

Selina frowned but, before she could respond, Pam moved past her and into the cramped living room. Selina had set up several deck chairs on either side of two parallel couches, one of which was occupied by Waylon who gave her a shy, toothy grin as she entered. Harley was hanging off of Jon, who looked wholly disgruntled by the situation, while Edward equally fawned over the pair of them. Harvey was sat on the couch and made no effort to greet her, settling for twirling his coin over his fingers and necking gin from the bottle. 

 

Pam gritted her teeth.  _ This is for Harley,  _ she had to remind herself,  _ do it for her.  _ She wondered if Harley even deserved all this affection from her. 

 

“I’ve missed you guys  _ soooo  _ much!” Harley shrieked, crushing the taller man against her until it looked like Jon was about to snap his spine in half. He caught her by the elbows and gently maneuvered her off of him. 

 

“It’s nice to see you, too, Harleen,” Jon said, brushing her white face-paint off the sleeve of his long coat. 

 

“Twofy!” Harley grinned, holding out her arms wide and rushing over to Harvey. 

 

He stood up abruptly and held up a hand to stop her, “Don’t even think about it, kid.” 

 

Harley deflated like a child who, promised a puppy for Christmas, found out they were getting marker pens instead. Pam narrowed her eyes at Harvey and lunged towards him. Selina put herself between them. 

 

She looped one of her arms through Harvey’s and squeezed his chin. “Play nice, Harv. You’re my guest of honour, after all.” 

 

“With these whiny freaks for company?” Harvey growled, “That’s not saying much, Selina.” 

 

“Good to see Harvey’s brought his shining personality with him tonight,” Edward remarked, resting an elbow on Jon’s shoulder and taking a sip of his martini, “You sure know how to set the tone for the evening, Dent.” 

 

“Better than having it dominated by some wise-ass, loud-mouth, posturing-”

 

“Boys, boys,  _ boys, _ ” Selina rolled her eyes and sank down onto the couch, pulling Harvey with her. “You’re both handsome. Besides, we’ve got enough to be angry about today without you at each other's throats.” 

 

“What’s today?” Harley mumbled as she ripped into the cheez-its with her teeth. Pam raised a brow. She could have sworn she’d just had this conversation with Harley outside. 

 

“Mother’s Day,” Waylon grumbled from the corner. “Never really ‘ad one besides old Auntie Marcy and she was a pretty lousy momma.” 

 

Harvey glared at him, “Nobody cares about your sob story, Croc.” 

 

“We’ve all got our demons,” Jon noted quietly, his eyes dark and terrible. “I never knew my mother and maybe that’s the best for both of us. My grandmother… well, let’s just say I can still hear her screams to this day. They give me such a warm feeling inside.”

 

A sinister smile crept onto the Scarecrow’s face but his company seemed unbothered. Edward, who was leaning against him on the couch opposite, raised a brow at him, “My, my, I didn’t realize this was an Arkham therapy session.” 

 

“Just because you’re scared to confront your past,” Jon teased, “Doesn’t mean we all should be.” 

 

Edward made a series of disgruntled sounds and Pam smirked, glancing around for Harley. She saw the shadows of Harley’s pigtails spilling out of the kitchen and followed after her. 

 

When she arrived in the kitchen doorway, Harley was leaning against the kitchen counter, shaking. 

 

“Harls?” Pam called softly. “Harley? What’s wrong?”

 

“Red?” Harley turned to her, eyes full of glittering tears, “Do you think I’m a bad mother?”

 

“I-” Pam’s knee-jerk reaction was to comfort Harley. She had never been able to resist a distressed Harley, it was perhaps her greatest weakness. But she thought about Lucy never knowing who her real mother was, of Harley lying to her child’s face every time she saw her. But what else was there to do? Harley was hardly stable enough to raise a child and if the Joker ever caught wind of Lucy’s existence… 

 

Pam pulled her close without answering her question. Harley finally allowed the months of pent up emotion to spill out. “Lucy,” She whispered. “I don’t know what to do, Red. Sometimes I just want to scoop her out of my sister’s house and run away and sometimes I think she’s better off without me.” 

 

“Don’t say things like that,” Pam told her firmly. She pulled Harley away from her by the shoulders, gazing deep into her eyes, “You will get better, Harleen Quinzel. Even if I have to tie you up and drag you to therapy every week, even if it means late night calls with Selina or coming to these god awful gatherings-” Pam gestured at the tacky apartment around her, “You’ll heal. You’ll be free of him and maybe… maybe then we can… we can look into Lucy -  _ potentially  _ \- staying with us.” 

 

Pam could have laughed and cried at the ludicrousness of her words. Pamela? A parent? She didn’t exactly have a great track record herself. 

 

Harley’s eyes widened, “Honey, are you serious?” 

 

“On certain stipulations,” Pam asserted, counting them off on her fingers. “Like you getting better. Making a promise to yourself and the rest of us never to return to that vile man. And no criminal activity around Lucy!” 

 

Harley was already lost to her, bouncing up and down excitedly and clapping her hands together, “That would be so great, Red! We could take Lucy to the park and to movies, we could ride on the ferris wheel and we could go to a petting zoo and pet all the baby goats and rabbits and we could sneak one home-”

 

Pam sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Harley, what did I just say?” 

 

“We’d ask permission! Yeah, totally, we could buy the whole zoo and live in a big house with staff to take care of the animals. And maybe the others could live with us, you know, Selina and the boys, like one big family-”

 

“ _ Harley _ -”

 

“Or maybe the guys could just babysit? Oh, that would be so fun! You and me, we could get ice cream or beat up some dumb men, and Eddie and Johnny could look after Lucy! Eddie’s great with kids. Or Victor! Oh, no, actually Mr. Frosty’s snow globe wife? That might freak Lucy out a little. Oh well, there’s always-”

 

“Harley!” 

 

Pam seized her by the shoulders and shook her a little. Harley giggled and rocked on her feet, head lolling backwards and forwards and Pam scowled at her. 

 

“Why won’t you take this seriously?” 

 

“I  _ am _ ,” Harley insisted, lip forming into a pout. “I’m just excited about having my daughter in my life, jeez. How am I supposed to feel? Am I supposed to change how I feel?” 

 

“That’s not what I’m saying.” 

 

“Then what am I supposed to do, Red? What’s going to make you happy?” 

 

Pam huffed, “Look. I know. I know you’re excited and I know Lucy means a lot to you. But we have to take this slow, alright? Slow.” 

 

“Slow,” Harley grinned, “Like you and me, slow? ‘Cos that sure was  _ sloooooooow _ .” 

 

She draped her arms around Pam’s neck leaning on her. Pam blushed and looked away. 

 

“I know what you’re trying to do.” 

 

“And what’s that, Pam-a-lamb?” She grinned wider and kissed Pam’s jaw. Pam felt electric, like anything was possible. 

 

“Stop being cute,” Pam tried half-heartedly to remove Harley’s arms from around her neck. “You’re trying to distract me so you’ll get your own way.” 

 

“Is it working?” 

 

Harley bit her lip, eyes hooded, and that was enough for Pam. She kissed Harley’s stupid face, her stupid lips, this bizzare broken woman who had so much love in her. Her hands threaded into Harley’s hair, cradled beneath her pigtails. Harley had chosen strawberry flavoured lipgloss today, a nice choice, and Pam wanted to taste it all night. 

 

Harley pulled away with a huge smirk on her face and Pam worked at getting her breath back.  _ Damn clown _ , Pam thought,  _ she knows exactly what she’s doing.  _

 

“Hey, will you two lovebirds get in here and- Oh,” Selina glanced between the pair of them, from Harley’s disheveled hair to what she was sure was smudged lipstick all over Pam’s lips. “I see you two are making up for lost time.” 

 

Pam gave Selina a withering look whereas Harley’s smile widened, showing her teeth like her hyenas, “We’ll be out in a second!” 

 

“Good, because we’re playing truth and dare, if you’re interested,” Selina cooed, “Might involve some nudity, so children should be shot at the door.” 

 

“With Dent, Nygma and Crane?” Pam screwed up her face. “Feel free to shoot me at the door.” 

 

“C’mon, Red,” Harley beamed, “It’ll be fun to watch ‘em squirm.” 


End file.
